


Fallen Back to Earth

by angsty_nerd



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Gen, post Season 1 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 20:25:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19158352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angsty_nerd/pseuds/angsty_nerd
Summary: Post-Recovering the Satellites, Rosa POV. Rosa woke up in the cave just in time to see Max collapse in front of her. The world is strange and confusing, but watches as her sister deals with all of the madness before them.





	Fallen Back to Earth

 

Liz’s sobs echoed through the cave, the confined space amplifying the sound, which cut through Rosa’s heart like a knife. All she wanted was to pull her sister away, protect her from this pain, but she felt stuck in the cave entrance, frozen, watching as Liz fell apart in front of her.

_Liz…_ Rosa shook her head as if it would clear the fuzziness that was clouding her mind.  She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain of the sharp headache pounding through her brain, but it was just getting worse. The sharpness of Liz’s cries were making it worse. But Rosa stood there and took the pain.  She wouldn’t leave her sister alone. 

_What happened?_  Rosa was so confused. She remembered being annoyed that Liz started to show interest in Max Evans, of all people.  Liz’s reaction seemed extreme for a crush though. And how did Liz know he was even here? Rosa didn’t even know why she was here.  Alone with Max Evans...naked in a creepy cave...with just a blanket covering her.

She was trying to remember what was going on, but her mind was fuzzy and it was hard to focus.  Rosa knew there was something about a missing backpack, and a bus ticket...her cave, one of her sanctuaries. Isobel Evans.  And then…there was this place, creepy and unfamiliar. She opened her eyes...confusion, and then fear as she saw Max Evans collapse in front of her.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

She woke up on the ground, it was cold and dusty all around her.  She was naked except for an old blanket wrapped around her chilled body.  She felt like she would never be warm again. 

Max Evans was lying motionless beside her.   _Max, where are we?_ She wanted to ask, but she knew there was no point. He seemed lifeless after collapsing and she couldn’t tell if he was breathing.  She leaned over and tried to wake him, shaking his shoulder. Her voice broke on his name when she tried to call out to him. It sounded wrong, like she had forgotten how to use it and needed to learn again.  Max remained still.

She recoiled and quickly slid back away from him. _Dead? Or just unconscious?_ She couldn’t tell if his heart was beating either. She felt his forehead. _Still warm._

Her knees shaking, she pushed herself to her feet.  She felt unsteady, and leaned against the cave wall for support while she tried to take in her surroundings. The cave was filled with strange knick knacks and collectibles, like it was someone’s secret hiding place, just like her cave.  Her eyes kept being drawn to the back corner though, where a giant, glowing egg dominated the space. _What the hell?_

But then she spotted something in the corner that she desperately needed more than answers. A case of water bottles. And she was so damn thirsty. She staggered across the cave and grabbed one, drinking it down maybe a little too quickly.  Afterwards she cleared her throat, and tried to wake Max again. 

_“_ Max _!_ ” She called his name, and this time it came out a little more solidly.  But still there was no response...for a long moment. And then a distant, familiar voice echoed her call from somewhere outside.  “Max _!”_

_Liz…_

Rosa hurried as quickly as she could from the cave. Her sister needed her.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Eventually, Liz’s agonizing cries slowed, and she sat back from Max’s body, breathing heavily and trying to regain her control.  Rosa finally felt like she could approach her sister. She silently moved to wrap a comforting arm around her, but before she could, Liz pushed to her feet.

“How weak are you? Do you think you can help me get him to my car? Or should I call Kyle or Michael for help?” Rosa was stunned at how quickly her sister became all business.  She walked around to his feet, and leaned down to give one ankle a tentative tug. 

“I’ll try, Liz. For you. But… I can’t use both hands without…” She awkwardly gestured at the blanket wrapped around her.

Liz shook her head. “Of course. I’m sorry.” She pulled her keys out of her pocket and passed them to Rosa. “Lucky for you, I am way too used to being on the move. There’s a duffle with a change of clothes in my trunk. Go get dressed. I’ll stay with Max.”

Liz’s voice softened on his name, alarming Rosa. Something had definitely happened between them, that much was clear. All of her warnings and threats to Max and advice to her sister were for nothing. Liz had let him unlock the cage around her heart, and now it was tearing her apart.

As Rosa turned to leave the cave she heard her sister softly saying to him, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but you can’t leave me, Max. I need to tell you something.”

When Rosa returned a few minutes later, she heard Liz’s voice again, but this time talking quickly, urgently. “I know but there’s no time for that. I can’t even tell… it might already be too late. Just...go get Kyle and meet me at the pods. We’ll be there soon.”

It wasn’t easy to get Max into the car, even with Liz bringing her car as close as possible to the cave.  Rosa was weak and had to stop multiple times to rest. She saw Liz wince and grab her side a few times too as they struggled with his dead weight. Afterwards, Rosa slid into the passenger seat and it was all she could do not to pass out.  Instead, she kept herself alert by studying her sister.

“There’s something different about you.” Rosa told her.  She tried to decide what had changed. Her face was lined with worry and stress, and they didn’t look like unfamiliar feelings to her. But that wasn’t it. There was something else different. “Did you get new makeup?” 

Liz looked unsettled as she glanced over to Rosa, and she didn’t immediately answer the question.  When she finally spoke, her tone was measured and cautious. “Rosa, what’s the last thing that you remember?  Before waking up in that cave with Max, I mean.” 

The question pierced through the fog clouding her mind briefly, revealing snippets once again, before everything became murky again.  She was going to get clean. Her father was going to help. Her birth father. But Liz could never know about him. It would destroy her.  That was why… the backpack. With the bus ticket. She was going to leave. But Isobel Evans wouldn’t let her go. 

“I just...it’s complicated, Liz. You don’t know everything going on in my life.”

“Okay, how about I try with what I do know.  Do you remember being at the Wild Pony with Maria? Writing that on your hand?”

Rosa looked down at the Third Eye Blind lyrics that haunted her and made her think about Isobel Evans and her creepy, predatory behavior. “Yes.” She confirmed.

“Okay. Do you remember threatening Max outside of the Crashdown, telling him to stay away from me?”

Rosa’s eyes widened. “How do you know about that?”

“It’s a long story,” Liz replied.  “And there will be plenty of time for it later. It had something to do with Isobel, right?  You were secretly hanging out with her?” 

“I didn’t know you knew about that,” Rosa figured there was no reason not to just say it since Liz already knew about her.  “Isobel Evans is screwing around with me, you know? Pretending we’re friends one minute, treating me like a stranger the next. Some days she’s, like, so obsessed with me that it’s straight up creepy and other days she’s such a bitch I just want to slap her.  It’s just messing me up. There’s something wrong with her. And, you know, Max is her twin, so if he’s anything like her, I don’t want you dealing with the kind of shit that she’s put me through. 

“Present tense,” Liz murmured sadly, which just confused Rosa even more. “What about the cave, Rosa. Do you remember anything about the cave?”

“Liz...why are you acting so weird.” 

“Just tell me, Rosa.”

Rosa sighed. She blinked and tried to sort out the confusing images swirling around in her memory.  “I went to the cave to get the backpack I stashed there. I was going to leave town for a little while. Get clean with some help, you know?  But my bag disappeared with all my money and my bus ticket. _La loca de mierda_ Isobel Evans stole my shit to keep me from leaving.”

“And then?”

Rosa squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push the fog away. She thought she remembered screaming, an golden glow in the candle light… “It’s fuzzy after that. I don’t know...nothing’s clear until I woke up in that other cave with Max Evans. What the hell happened to me, Liz? 

Her sister reached over and took her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. “Rosa, when you walked out of that cave your first instinct was to be my big sister and protect me. It was amazing to feel that again. But now you’ve got to let me be that person for you, okay? Because what I’m going to tell you is going to sound crazy, but I swear, it’s all true.”

Liz brought the car to a stop and put it in park. They were in the middle of the desert still, but somewhere different. Old mining equipment littered the area, and there was an old mineshaft just up the hill from where Liz parked. She turned off the engine and faced Rosa, reaching for her other hand now that she wasn’t driving. Liz held both her hands, rubbing her thumb comfortingly over Rosa’s knuckles, and Rosa began to feel nervous.

“Rosa, all of those memories?  The day that you wrote those lyrics on your hand and told Max Evans to leave me alone. You went to that cave to leave town and you never came back.  I look different because I am different. The last time you saw me I was 17, about to graduate from high school. I’m 28 now. And you, Rosa…you haven’t aged a day.  Because you died in that cave 10 years ago.”

Rosa shook her head. “No, Liz. You’re not making any sense. I’m not dead. I’m right here.”

“No,” Liz agreed with a sad smile, “You are definitely alive again.  Max Evans, the stupid, wonderful, miracle that he is, must have found you in that cave.  And he loves me so damn much that he decided to bring you back to life, consequences be damned.”

“Liz…that’s impossible.  People can’t raise the dead.  Are you okay?”

“Not really.” Liz admitted, while blinking back the fresh tears that were shining in her eyes. “Max traded his life for yours, and now you’re here, and he’s gone and I don’t know whether to celebrate or mourn. It’s like the universe doesn’t want me to have the two people I love most in the world at the same time.”

Rosa nodded.  Even though it all sounded impossible, she knew Liz wasn’t crazy. She clearly believed every word she was saying. Plus, the way she cried over Max Evans’ body...it sounded like her heart was breaking.

“Rosa, I have to tell you something else before the others arrive, and this is going to be a lot too, I’m sorry.” Rosa nodded for her to continue.

“The reason Max could bring you back is because he’s an alien. From the 1947 crash. Isobel and Michael Guerin too. They all have these powers...they can do things that we can’t do, like Max has the power to heal.”

Rosa couldn’t help laughing weakly.  “I shouldn’t be surprised, right? If it’s true that I was raised from the dead and am, like, a zombie now or whatever, aliens living in Roswell is almost predictable.”

“You’re not wrong,” Liz agreed with what was almost a smile, “But, listen, this is what you really need to know. There was another alien too. Noah. He was evil, Rosa. His power was like mind control. He could take over peoples’ minds and use them like puppets. And Isobel Evans was his favorite puppet. Noah was obsessed with you. He used Isobel’s body to get close to you.  And then he used Isobel as a puppet to murder you.”

Rosa shook her head, confused. “Liz are you okay? This doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know it sounds crazy, Rosa, but it’s true. Isobel’s mind and body were violated by Noah for most of her life, and we only just found out and stopped him, literally yesterday. He’s gone now, and he can’t get to you anymore. You’re safe, Rosa.” 

Rosa sighed and squeezed Liz’s hands. “This might take some getting used to.  So are you telling me that I’m basically still 19 and you’re 28? So you weren’t joking when you said it’s your turn to be the big sister now.” The sisters both laughed, and suddenly Liz leaned across the car and hugged Rosa tightly.

“I still can’t believe you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”

The sound of tires on gravel broke them from their sister moment, and Rosa looked up to see another SUV pulling up and parking near them.

“They’re here. Thank goodness.” Liz breathed out in relief.

“Who?” She asked.

“Michael and Isobel. And Kyle. They’re here to help Max. Come on. They're going to be glad to see you. Especially Kyle.”

Rosa glanced up at Liz sharply. _Did Liz know her secret? The one thing she never wanted Liz to know?_ But Liz gave nothing away and just smiled at her. “Let’s go.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Watching Liz… _28 year old Liz_ … take charge of the situation was incredible.  She was firm, directive, self assured. Everyone listened to her without question.  It was a far cry from the sweet, naive 17 year old girl that Rosa remembered.

“Okay. Michael, get Max inside. Kyle, you need to check all of his vitals.  Is he alive? We need to know if there’s any bit of chance of saving him. Get me some blood and cell samples too.  Isobel, see if his mind is still active. If you can go inside his head, then there’s definitely a chance we can save him.” 

All of them started to move.  Rosa gaped, as with a narrowing of his eyes and a gesture from Michael Guerin, Max’s body started floating towards the mine entrance.   _Alien powers..._ she remembered.  Still it was strange to see the truth out in the open, in the daylight.  Isobel rushed into the cave behind Max’s body with Michael close behind, but Kyle hung back. Rosa turned to him when the others were out of sight. He was staring at her, eyes wide, shock glued across his face.

“Rosa…how...” He started to gasp, but Liz firmly cut him off. “ _Kyle_ ,” she said sharply, “I need you to focus on Max right now.  There’s time for this later.”

Kyle nodded. “You’re right,” he agreed, and hurried into the mine. Once again, Rosa found herself alone with her sister.

With everyone else out of sight, Liz almost seemed to deflate. Her strength fading away as she slumped forward. She looked exhausted. And it was almost like she was in physical pain. Her hand went to her heart, rubbing her chest as if she were trying to rub away the pain of a deep bruise. Rosa stepped towards her sister, laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Liz.”

Liz whirled around to face her, “Is it? Because if Max is dead, it’s my fault. And living with that guilt is going to destroy me.” Liz’s voice was shaky and erratic, as she wiped the start of tears forming in her eyes. “Come on. We’d better get in there.”

Inside, the narrow mine entrance widened to a large cave. Three of those strange glowing eggs dominated the space, lighting the darkness in an eerie glow. In the middle of the cave, Max was laid out on the ground. Kyle Valenti was leaned over him, a medical kit open beside him.  Michael and Isobel were standing a few feet away, Michael with a comforting arm around Isobel, while they waited for Kyle’s prognosis.

“Kyle’s a doctor?” Rosa whispered to Liz. Her sister nodded. 

“He’s changed a lot since the last time you saw him.”

After what felt like ages, Kyle sat back. “You’re up, Isobel.”

“Valenti, tell us!” Michael demanded.

“Inconclusive. But I’ll run some more tests back at the hospital. Maybe they’ll tell me something.  For now, Isobel’s results may be a bit more immediate.”

Isobel was staring at Max, an intense, focused look on her face. It sent a chill down Rosa’s spine.   _Hunting like a predator_ … she remembered the feeling of those eyes focused on her. It was unsettling, made her feel unsafe.  She reached over and took Liz’s hand for comfort.

Like a snap the intensity disappeared, blinking away as Isobel turned to look at Michael, and then to Liz. “He’s in there. He’s still alive!”

And with those three words, Liz’s last mask of strength fell apart and a sob escaped from her throat. She dropped Rosa’s hand, and ran the few steps over to Isobel. “Thank you.” She cried as she gave Isobel a brief, awkward hug. Rosa saw Isobel’s eyes widen as she hugged Liz back, like it was an unfamiliar, unexpected gesture. _Good_ … At least Liz hadn’t gotten too sucked into Isobel’s drama.

“I think he just completely burned himself out, to the point where his body can’t function. His mind was barely active. It was all dark and fuzzy in there. I’d never seen anything like it, especially not in his head.”

“It’s good news,” Kyle agreed. “When I get back to the hospital I’ll log these tests so we can track his progress. That way we’ll know when he starts to improve.”

“He should go in his pod,” Liz was staring past them all at the glowing egg thingies.  There was silence for a moment while they all seemed to consider it.

“Wouldn’t it just preserve him in this state?” Isobel asked, “Like when you were working on the cure for me?” 

“Something unnatural was happening to you,” Liz mused. “You were dying from my serum. The pod held you in stasis and paused the progression. But what would it do if your body isn’t actively degenerating? Maybe by putting him in stasis it will pause all unnecessary functions and just allow his body to heal and restore itself.”

“How will we know he’s ready to come out?” Michael asked. 

“It’s not as critical as it was for Isobel,” Liz reminded him. “He’s not actively degrading, his body is just resting. We can pull him out every few weeks, see if he wakes up. If not, Kyle will update his vitals, see if they show improvement.  If I’m wrong and it’s not helping, we’ll know and we can take him home instead.” 

Rosa didn’t really follow much more of the discussion. The others agreed with the plan, and Liz was already moving on to the next step, slowly unbuttoning Max’s shirt. Liz paused to give Kyle a soft instruction that Rosa couldn’t hear, but a moment later, Kyle was at her side. “Come on, Rosa. Let’s go wait by the cars. They’ll be done soon.” He led her out of the cave and back into the sunlight.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Rosa leaned against Liz’s car, eyes closed, face tilted towards the sky, just feeling the sun’s warmth on her face.  She still had a hard time believing that 10 years had passed, when it felt like she had just woken up from a bender. But the way the sunshine felt warming her skin… it felt like her body was desperate for something it had been lacking for a very long time.  Maybe her body knew what her mind was still struggling with.

But the signs were all there. When she woke to the sight of Max Evans falling unconscious beside her, she studied him closely enough to notice the scruff of his facial hair, the weathered ruggedness of his skin.  He was older. Liz looked different too. It wasn’t that she looked older, it was more like her behavior had matured. Rosa was simply in awe of her self-assurance, her unhesitant leadership, and the way nobody questioned anything she said.  

“Are you okay, Rosa?”

She turned to study Kyle Valenti, who was standing a few feet away from her, staring at her with an intensity that made her a bit squirmish.  As Liz’s high school boyfriend, he had been around enough growing up that she thought she knew him pretty well...even after he became a jackass. When she found out that he was her half-brother, she buried the thought quickly, and made Sheriff Valenti promise never to tell him.  She never wanted Liz to find out the truth, and if it came from Kyle it would break her heart.

“Oh yeah, totally,” she scoffed in response, “You know, in rehab they really help you learn to cope with finding out that you were murdered by an alien and have been dead for 10 years until another alien decided to resurrected you.” 

“It’s okay to be freaking out,” Kyle reminded her. “This whole thing with Max probably makes you feel like you have to bury it all, but you don’t. We needed to get him safe quickly, but we are all going to be here to help you through this.”

Rosa narrowed her eyes at him, as he gave her what looked like a genuine smile.  She studied his face for a moment. He looked mostly the same, except that there was a touch of early grey hairs peppered through his spiky dark hair.  And his eyes seemed kind, like their father’s eyes.

“Since when are you nice?” 

Kyle sighed audibly and raked a hand through his hair. “Yeah, the last time you saw me I was a real dick.  Everyone loves to remind me. But something happened a few years back. Made me reassess things a bit. Helped me want to become a better person.”

“Lay it on me.” Rosa prompted him.

Kyle nodded. “Okay… Dad died a few years back. Cancer.  Well, sort of. With him gone, I just felt like I needed to do more to honor him.  I was already in medical school because I wanted to save people, like he did, as sheriff.  But once he was gone I decided that just saving people wasn’t enough. I needed to be a better person too.  So I decided to start living my life by a moral code, like he did.”

Rosa felt sucker punched. She barely heard the rest after he said that Sheriff Valenti was dead.  She hadn’t known him well for very long, and it hadn’t been the easiest of relationships, but he was kind to her.  And in the last few weeks, or what felt like the last few weeks to her, he had been her rock while she was trying to get her shit together.

“I never even got to thank him for all he did to help me.”

“It’s okay, Rosa. He knew. After you…” Kyle paused like he didn’t want to use the word _died_ with a person he was looking in the eyes. “Losing you broke his heart, I think. I didn’t realize it until recently, when I found out about…” he trailed off again, looking down at his shoes while shaking his head.  After a moment of silence he looked back up at her, fresh determination in his eye. “It makes sense now, looking back. You died and I went away to college, and I guess he felt a bit lost without his children around.  We were everything to him.”

So Kyle did know. “Does Liz know?” She asked, even though she was a little afraid of the answer.  She glanced back to the mine entrance. No one was coming yet, so she turned back to Kyle, waiting for his answer.  He gave her a silent, short nod. She cursed under her breath in Spanish. “I never wanted her to find out.”

“I couldn’t figure out how to tell her,” Kyle admitted. “Now I wish I had. Did she tell you about Noah?”

“Noah the body snatching alien murderer?” Rosa asked with a bitter laugh, “Yeah, I’ve heard of him.”

“He told her. Yesterday. Used it like a weapon to try to hurt her. And then he stabbed her. Keep an eye on her, Rosa. Liz is really good at pretending to be strong when she’s falling apart. I stitched her up yesterday myself.  She should be in a lot of physical pain right now.”

“Tell me about Max Evans. When did he and Liz hook up?”

“I’m not entirely sure, actually,” he admitted, “Liz doesn’t exactly talk about Max with me. It’s kind of awkward.  But it's been clear ever since Liz came back to Roswell that they were crazy for each other.” Kyle paused and laughed, shaking his head, “Even when Liz suspected him of your murder, she wouldn’t admit it, but she desperately wanted to prove him innocent.” 

“She thought he murdered me but she still had feelings for him!?!” Rosa didn’t even know what to say to that.  She was baffled by her sister, but also relieved that Liz was wrong about her suspect.

“To be fair, she was fighting her feelings pretty hard,” Kyle insisted. “Plus there was the whole saving her life thing. The first night Liz drove into town, she was shot and she would have died. But Max was there and healed her with his powers. She’s only alive today because of him. And since then she almost died a few more times while investigating your murder.  Every single time, Max showed up for her.” 

“So he really does love her,” Rosa mused, remembering the love letter that she had just intercepted from him.  She wondered if Liz had ever found it. “I didn’t trust him because of what I was going through with Isobel...Noah...whatever.  I thought he was going to screw around with her the way Izzy was screwing around with me.”

“If nothing else, the fact that we’re standing here having this conversation while Max is comatose inside that cave is proof of that. It’s pretty clear that he gave his life to get you back for Liz.  That’s how much he loves her.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Once the others came out of the cave, Liz drove Rosa to a small adobe house on the outskirts of town at the end of a long dirt road.  It seemed quiet and peaceful out here on the edge of it all — a far cry from how they grew up living above the Crashdown in the center of town.

“Is this your house?” Rosa asked.

“No.” Liz sadly replied. “It’s Max’s. I figure with him in stasis it’s the best place for us to go while we figure out what to do next.”

Rosa followed Liz around to the door, and then froze dead in her tracks at the sight of the broken door, the pool of blood. Liz stepped over the remnants of the door frame and gestured for Rosa to follow.

“What happened here?”

“I actually don’t know,” Liz admitted. “I never got a chance to ask.  It had something to do with Noah. They were keeping him here, and he somehow escaped.  I’m guessing this is the result of that.” 

Rosa hesitated, and then followed Liz into the house.

“Why don’t you go take a shower or a bath.” Liz suggested. “I’ll clean this mess up and make some food.”

The shower was rejuvenating. After only a few minutes under the steamy water, Rosa finally felt warm inside for the first time since waking up in the cave.  Afterwards, once she had dried off and slipped back into Liz’s yoga pants and tank top, the savory scent of cooking eggs lured her back out to the kitchen. Glancing at the broken door frame, Rosa noted that the broken glass had been swept up, and a mop leaned haphazardly against the bookshelf nearby.

“Perfect timing,” Liz greeted her, as she passed a hot plate piled with cheesy scrambled eggs with chiles and sausage. They ate mostly in silence, and when they were done, Rosa took their plates and washed the dishes. Even as she focused on the task though, she could feel her sister’s eyes watching her, and she wondered what was going through Liz’s head.  

_Ten years_ … the truth was that Rosa had no idea who this new, older Liz was. People can change a lot in ten years. But Rosa remembered how tightly Liz hugged her when they reunited in the desert, and how even though she was confused, she clung to Rosa like a lifeline.  

“Tell me everything.” Rosa asked, after the sisters settled down on the couch together. “I want to know what I missed in your life. I have a whole decade to catch up on, so we’d better get started.”

Somehow, Rosa was certain that for the two of them, 10 years apart probably didn’t matter at all.

 


End file.
